Life Improvement

Penelope Update

Penelope is still at the shop and we do not have a clue when she’ll be done. Her bodywork was finished last week, but there was a noise the shop couldn’t pinpoint. She went to another shop and had her front end aligned, but that didn’t end the noise. Now the diagnosis seems to be a new steering box, but since that is over a certain dollar amount, the shop has to go back to the insurance company for approval of additional expenditures. So there Penelope sits, waiting for approval. And here I don’t sit, because while we’re down to one vehicle I get to be the chauffeur, driving Bill to work, driving David to college, picking them up, taking people here and there to appointments, etc. David has taken the bus a few times to college, but for an 11:15 class he has to leave here at 9:30, and it only takes 20 minutes to drive there. So most days I drive him there.

There is an upside to all this driving, though; listening to the local NPR radio station. For some reason I do not remember to turn the radio on at home, preferring to listen to Folk Alley. I get more accomplished at home when I listen to music. But I love NPR for all the great interviews, book reviews and talk shows they offer daily and it’s great company in the car.

Of course, there is also a downside to NPR; it spurs on my reading habit. After listening to interviews of authors who have new books coming out and listening to book reviews, I now have more books that I want to read. I have to keep a pad of paper handy in the car so I can jot down author names and book titles of those that sound really interesting. And when I get home, I head to PaperbackSwap to see if I can acquire a copy. If reading is my habit of choice, PaperbackSwap is my enabler. Most of the books I have read this past year have come from PaperbackSwap, and when I am done with them, I relist them and swap them back for more! If you like to read, check out PaperbackSwap. And if you decide to join, I would greatly appreciate it if you would use my email address ( wdkmg@pipeline.com ) as your “sponsor.” That will gain me a book credit! Thanks!

NPR and PaperbackSwap are the reasons for no blog post yesterday. I was engrossed in The Dive From Clausen’s Pier by Ann Packer, an author I listened to a couple of weeks ago on NPR. But more about that tomorrow, when I post my review!

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